Jay Gearan -- Worcester telegram and Gazette
Former Hartford Whaler Tim Sheehy doesn’t play hockey anymore, but he’s still always around
rinks, some nights watching his son, Dan, play for Algonquin Regional,
other nights scouting potential college and professional players.
In 1972, with the country embroiled in social unrest and the war in Vietnam, Olympic athletes did not command the media attention that exploded eight years later at Lake Placid.
“We’ve been called ‘The Forgotten Team,’ ” said Sheehy, who co-captained the all-amateur squad. “Russia won it all, and that was probably the greatest hockey team ever assembled with someone who many of us thought was the best player in the world, Valeri Kharlamov.”
Sheehy, was a star high school hockey player from International Falls, Minn., and led his team to 59 consecutive wins and three straight state championships. He turned down NHL draft opportunities and chose a full athletic scholarship to Boston College in 1966.
At BC, Sheehy was the team’s leading scorer in each of his
three varsity seasons and twice awarded All-America and All East
honors. He was inducted into the BC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975.
On the U.S. Olympic team, Sheehy, played right wing on a line with center Robbie Ftorek and left wing Stuart Irving.
“We had a great team,” Sheehy recalled of his squad that also had a 16-year-old Mark Howe in the mix and defeated Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Finland. Sheehy scored two goals in both wins over Poland and Finland.
“Once we beat the Czechs, we thought we had a chance,” Sheehy said.
The Soviet team, however, was unstoppable.
“I had first played against the Russians when I was a junior at BC,” said Sheehy, who roomed with future Olympic coach Herb Brooks on the national team. “We went over to the World Games in Stockholm and we opened up the tournament by losing to them, 17-2. The next year they beat us 10-1 at the World Tournament in Switzerland. But in Sapporo, they beat us 7-3.”
Sheehy quipped, “I always tell people that we softened the Russians up for Brooks and (Mike) Eruzione.”
Several players from the 1972 Soviet team, including Kharlamov, played on the 1980 squad as well.
Some other star players on the 1972 U.S. team included defenseman Tom Mellor, who now lives in Marlboro and Kevin Ahearn, a teammate of Sheehy’s at BC.
“When we finished up in Sapporo, we came back to the States and all of a sudden there’s this new hockey league starting up. We could continue playing,” said Sheehy, who signed with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association in May of 1972 and played in the Boston Garden. Against Bobby Hull’s Winnipeg Jets, Sheehy’s team won the championship in its inaugural season.
Sheehy later played in the WHA for the Birmingam Bulls and Edmonton Oilers and in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers before retiring from professional hockey in 1980.
“Hockey has been great to me. I had my education paid for, traveled all over the world. I had visited all 50 states by the time I was 24 years old,” said Sheehy, a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Today the 61-year-old Sheehy is a partner of Sheehyhockeyllc.com, with his brother Neil, who played at Harvard and nine years in the NHL.
“Our market is college players,” Sheehy said, “We help young players and parents chart their course.”
Besides Dan, a sophomore at Algonquin, Sheehy and his wife, Jane, have two other children, Sarah, a sophomore at Boston College and an intern for the Worcester Sharks and Brian, a senior and hockey player at Northwood School in Lake Placid, N.Y.
On the U.S. Olympic team, Sheehy, played right wing on a line with center Robbie Ftorek and left wing Stuart Irving.
“We had a great team,” Sheehy recalled of his squad that also had a 16-year-old Mark Howe in the mix and defeated Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Finland. Sheehy scored two goals in both wins over Poland and Finland.
“Once we beat the Czechs, we thought we had a chance,” Sheehy said.
The Soviet team, however, was unstoppable.
“I had first played against the Russians when I was a junior at BC,” said Sheehy, who roomed with future Olympic coach Herb Brooks on the national team. “We went over to the World Games in Stockholm and we opened up the tournament by losing to them, 17-2. The next year they beat us 10-1 at the World Tournament in Switzerland. But in Sapporo, they beat us 7-3.”
Sheehy quipped, “I always tell people that we softened the Russians up for Brooks and (Mike) Eruzione.”
Several players from the 1972 Soviet team, including Kharlamov, played on the 1980 squad as well.
Some other star players on the 1972 U.S. team included defenseman Tom Mellor, who now lives in Marlboro and Kevin Ahearn, a teammate of Sheehy’s at BC.
“When we finished up in Sapporo, we came back to the States and all of a sudden there’s this new hockey league starting up. We could continue playing,” said Sheehy, who signed with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association in May of 1972 and played in the Boston Garden. Against Bobby Hull’s Winnipeg Jets, Sheehy’s team won the championship in its inaugural season.
Sheehy later played in the WHA for the Birmingam Bulls and Edmonton Oilers and in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers before retiring from professional hockey in 1980.
“Hockey has been great to me. I had my education paid for, traveled all over the world. I had visited all 50 states by the time I was 24 years old,” said Sheehy, a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Today the 61-year-old Sheehy is a partner of Sheehyhockeyllc.com, with his brother Neil, who played at Harvard and nine years in the NHL.
“Our market is college players,” Sheehy said, “We help young players and parents chart their course.”
Besides Dan, a sophomore at Algonquin, Sheehy and his wife, Jane, have two other children, Sarah, a sophomore at Boston College and an intern for the Worcester Sharks and Brian, a senior and hockey player at Northwood School in Lake Placid, N.Y.
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